1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing an alloy wire having excellent strength and corrosion resistance as well as flexibility.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The conventional production of an amorphous alloy wire has heretofore been carried out by means of the in-rotating-water spinning or the like, because of the high cooling rate required to obtain iron-based or nickel-based wires of several tens of .mu.m in diameter. Advantage has been taken of the characteristics of the wires thus produced to use them as reinforcing fiber for automobile tire and women's underwear. However, the in-rotating-water spinning method using water as the cooling medium has been accompanied with difficulty in producing a sound wire from an alloy containing a reactive metal, such as Al, Mg, Zr or a rare earth metal.
As described hereinbefore, the production of usual amorphous alloy wire can be performed by the direct quenching method, such as the in-rotating-water spinning method, etc. However, in the case of an alloy containing a reactive metal, it is difficult to produce a sound alloy wire, since the alloy reacts with water to sometimes form an oxide film. On the other hand, as disclosed in Japanese Patent-Laid-Open Nos. 275732/1989, 10041/1991 and 36243/1991 and Japanese Patent application No. 158446/1991, an alloy which exhibits glass transition behavior can be made into a wire by conducting extrusion, rolling, drawing or the like singly or in combination thereof with an amorphous alloy obtained in the form of ribbon or powder. Although the above-disclosed production processes are excellent, they have suffered the disadvantage that each of them involves a lot of steps, leaving some room for economic improvement. Under such circumstances, it was found by the present inventors that an alloy exhibiting glass transition behavior as described in the aforestated patent applications can be made into an amorphous bulk material by means of in-rotating-water spinning, direct casting or the like, and the patent application was already filed (Japanese Patent application No. 49491/1990). Later on, it was further found by the present inventors that a continuous wire can be produced easily and economically by subjecting the bulk material to drawing at a temperature in the range of the glass transition temperature (Tg) to the crystallization temperature (Tx), which finding finally led to the present invention.